Alf ie should have been at home to die, say his army of mourners
ALFIE EVANS, the terminally ill toddler at the centre of a highly charged High Court battle, should have been allowed to die at home rather than in hospital guarded by police, his supporters said yesterday.
The 23-month-old lost his fight against an incurable brain condition early yesterday morning, five days after his life support was withdrawn. A court had earlier ruled that more treatment was not in his best interests.
In a tearful farewell, more than 1,000 supporters of the family, who fought a dogged legal battle to keep Alfie alive, gathered near Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool to release balloons and sing You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, were said to be too emotional to attend, but Mr Evans’ sister Sarah told the supporters, known as Alfie’s Army: ‘Our hearts are broken. We are shattered as a family.’
The case even attracted the attention of the Pope, who had earlier intervened and met Alfie’s parents.
He tweeted that he was ‘deeply moved’ by Alfie’s death and added: ‘Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace.’
Announcing Alfie’s death on Facebook earlier, Tom Evans said: ‘My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02.30... absolutely heartbroken.’
Ms James wrote: ‘Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2.30am. We are heartbroken. Thank you everyone for your support.’
Alder Hey Hospital, where Alfie had been a patient for more than a year, offered ‘heartfelt sympathy’.
Other tributes came from celebrities including Rebekah Vardy, the wife of England footballer Jamie, who said: ‘This morning, Heaven gained an angel. Alfie Evans, you stole my heart and the hearts of so many!’ Businessman Lord Sugar tweeted: ‘Sad day for his parents who fought so hard for him.’
But as the tributes poured in, there was continuing controversy, with pro-life campaigners calling for more rights to be given to families wanting to care for their children themselves.
The Christian Legal Centre, which supported Alfie’s parents in court, said the child should at least have been allowed to spend his last days at home. But it said this had not been possible because of ‘unnecessary delays’.
Spokeswoman Andrea Williams said: ‘The whole thing could have been avoided by simply allowing Alfie to be taken to a hospital of his parents’ choice that would have given him the care they were looking for with another team.’
The couple had been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Alder Hey over their wish to remove their son and fly him to Rome.
Medical experts insisted that more treatment would not have reversed his rare terminal condition, but his parents had wanted him treated at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu hospital and the Pope had encouraged the move.
But Alfie was removed from his ventilator last Monday after his parents failed to overturn an earlier court decision, and a ruling on Wednesday also went against them.
With feelings running high, supporters blamed the hospital for blocking the parents’ wishes, while critics questioned whether pro-life campaigners had given false hope.
Last night, senior doctors said they feared junior medics would shun careers in paediatrics to avoid receiving abuse when making lifeor-death decisions. Dr Peter-Marc Fortune, president of the Paediatric Intensive Care Society, said: ‘We are already significantly short of doctors and nurses. The stresses of this sort of abusive behaviour are making it worse.’